Qatar, once one of the poorest Gulf states, is one of the richest countries in the region today.

Qatar is using income from its large gas reserves to bankroll its regional and global ambitions, including winning a controversial bid to host the 2022 Football World Cup.

Not all of its regional interventions are popular with other Arab leaders, such as its support for the Palestinian Hamas faction in Gaza and Islamist groups in Egypt and Syria. In 2017 Saudi Arabia led efforts to cut the country off to force it to abandon its alleged support for radical and Islamist groups.

It also faces problems at home. Oil money funds an all-embracing welfare state, with many services free or heavily subsidised, but the treatment of migrant workers is frequently criticized by rights groups.

LEADER

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani took over from his father in a peaceful transfer of power in June 2013.

Like his father, he was educated in Britain: he went to Sherborne school in Dorset and Sandhurst, the British military academy.

Sheikh Tamim has made diversifying the economy and investing in the national infrastructure a priority, but much of his tenure has been dominated by tension with Qatar's Gulf Arab neighbours over the country's support for radical and Islamist groups, and its efforts to maintain good relations with Iran.

MEDIA

Image copyrightAL-Jazeera

Influential pan-Arab and international TV broadcaster Al-Jazeera, which is owned by the government, has raised Qatar's media profile.

But Al-Jazeera and the domestic media avoid criticism of the state and government.

The level of internet use is very high. The authorities filter online content deemed offensive to Islam or pornographic.